HARTSHORNE, Okla. — As a bookstore prepares for its grand opening in a rural community needing commerce, thieves have allegedly made off with the building's signature decor.
Hartsorne Area Chamber of Commerce president Heather Moore acquired a former CBD store on Pennsylvania Avenue in Hartshorne in May. Moore told 2 News Oklahoma she then took on its transformation into her own store to run: a new and used bookstore to shine a light on an infrastructure of literacy in the Hartshorne-Haileyville community.
WATCH: Decor for new Pittsburg County business stolen just before grand opening:
"I had an Etsy shop for a long time named the Little Lantern Book Company," Moore said. "And so I just took all the branding from that and I applied it to a brick and mortar."
Moore said the local anticipation for such a business in an often-struggling part of the state has been noticeable.
"Even schools over in Wilburton are contacting me about, like, giving top readers gift cards for the bookstore," Moore said. "So I think that it's definitely something that was needed in the community.”
Count Haileyville mayor Cathy Bailey-Morgan as an anticipating customer.
“Turning every page is an adventure, and it’s going to be an opportunity for a lot of people to check out books and maybe donate books," Mayor Bailey-morgan told 2 News. "And I’m excited, and I really hope it prospers."
There's just one problem with the bookstore with a lantern theme: its two solar-powered lanterns outside on the building's front porch are missing.
"We hung them up on these two corners over here and I had them up for less than 24 hours," Moore said. "And I came in the next day and they were gone. Somebody had taken my lanterns for my bookstore.”
“This is Heather’s dream (since she was) a child and you know, to try to start up something and have somebody take from it immediately before the doors are open is pretty sad," the mayor said.
Moore has since filed a police report on the lanterns theft but said she just wants to turn the page and have them both brought back in time for the store's ribbon cutting July 17 at 9am. A soft opening is planned July 15 from 10am-4pm.
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